Stephen Bierley
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/ 24 June 2005

Nadal’s home help

Rafael Nadal’s mum, Ana Maria, had other things on her mind on the Sunday that her 19-year-old son was playing in the French Open final. ”I watch him on court and the way he behaves is the way he behaves in life — all heart, very responsible, hard-working and much more mature than most boys his age. But he is very untidy and disorganised.”

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/ 3 June 2005

Rally champions

And so, on the ninth day, the semi-final that everybody wanted to see became a reality. Roger Federer, the world number one, beat Romania’s Victor Hanescu 6-2, 7-6, 6-3, and Rafael Nadal, the second most successful player on the men’s circuit this year, defeated fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 7-5, 6-2, 6-0.

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/ 30 January 2004

A Feder-al state

With his graceful stroke-play, Roger Federer is already a trendsetter for tennis’s new, anti-baseline-bashing generation. Of the four men’s semifinalists at this year’s Australian Open only Federer has never been the world number one — if he beats Juan Carlos Ferrero, he will become the 23rd man to reach this pinnacle since 1973.

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/ 30 May 2003

Spanish expected to last the test of clay

Rain dripped off the leaves of the chestnut trees along the Bois de Boulogne earlier this week as many of the leading players, scurrying on and off court between the showers, fine-tuned their games in preparation for the start of six hectic weeks that will encompass the French Open and Wimbledon, which begins in four weeks